I love these Fantastic Four movies and so does my daughter. They are fun and full of action. Although this second installment takes a while to get going, 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer is another hit!
At the beginning of the film, the Fantastic Four are loved and admired by all. Everything is going smoothly for them, and Reed Richards (aka, Mr. Fantastic - Ioan Gruffudd) is about to marry Susan Storm (aka, the Invisible Woman - Jessica Alba, who looks a lot older in this movie). As they plan for a new life together, the future fate of the Fantastic Four is falling fast for a foray of finality. The corniness and mushiness of this wedding stuff was enough to make about anybody sick. Luckily, we are rescued by the Silver Surfer, a mysterious alien being whose arrival to Earth is accompanied by power surges, blackouts, and other strange phenomena. As you might guess, the Fantastic Four must once again unite as one to determine the identity and purpose of this new visitor.
As for this new Silver Surfer dude (I think it is appropriate to say "dude" after "surfer." Wouldn't you agree?), he is way cool, bro (OK, I may be getting a bit carried away here...by the tide of the moment). However, his mission is to prepare for the Earth's destruction, which is way UNcool. He's pretty much the silent type, and it takes a hot chick to get him talking, but eventually he comes around. He is a great addition to the Fantastic Four character set, and the development of the story centers around the development of his character and in unlocking the mysteries surrounding his mission.
Overall, I'd say that this sequel, like many sequels, lacks a bit in the story. The carry-over characters were very well developed in the original Fantastic Four and not much is added in this one. Furthermore, there are no big surprises in this one either; the plot progresses pretty much as you'd expect.
However, luckily for all of us, this movie makes up for a moderately weak story in an action-packed smorgasbord of special effects. There is more action in this movie than the original, and just as much fun too. One new twist added to this film was the ability to transfer powers from one to the other. This not only added for several really cool fight matchups, but added to the hilarity as well; see the picture below when Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) ironically switches powers with The Thing (Michael Chiklis), whom he had constantly been torturing with endless teasing.
As a final note, I'd like to applaud the makers of this film for moving to a PG rating from the PG-13 of its predecessor. I think that this is so much more appropriate given that it is marketed to young children. To be clear, the movie is definitely for all audiences, not just young kids, but I am overjoyed that parents of those kids won't have to wrestle with whether or not to take them.
They're back and the fun continues!
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